


Cough Syrup

by JaneDoeSignedHancock



Series: Cough Syrup & Wheelies [1]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Conrad is repressed, Developing Friendships, Give my boy Conrad some love, Other, Willie deserves all the good things, Willie is a good friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27947810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneDoeSignedHancock/pseuds/JaneDoeSignedHancock
Summary: Conrad meets a young skater while avoiding his mother and her new husband.
Relationships: Conrad (Julie and the Phantoms) & Willie (Julie and the Phantoms
Series: Cough Syrup & Wheelies [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048099
Comments: 16
Kudos: 16





	Cough Syrup

Conrad takes a long shuddering breath, letting the frigid air fill his lungs. Folded awkwardly in between the roots of a dying alder tree, his hoodie pulled over his knees, he sits and watches his breath in the light of a dying street lamp. He came here to escape the hell that is his house, and even though his clothes are barely shielding him from the elements, it was a thousand times warmer than his newest stepfather.  
He must have fallen asleep, because a loud thud makes him jolt awake. Every muscle in his body complains at the sudden movement, as it tries to warm up.  
“Ow . . . oh man I dinged my board!” Conrad slowly grabs his bag and rises from the ground to creep around the tree. There in the bottom of the skating park is figure squatting on the ground, holding a skateboard near his face.  
“What the hell are you doing down there?” His voice sounds strange as it echoes in the empty park. The boy's helmeted head snaps up, and he quickly climbs out and onto the ground.  
“Sorry, I didn’t realize anyone else was here.” The skater was standing directly in the light of the moon now, helmet shining and a strained smile drawing attention to chapped lips. He takes off his helmet and shakes out his hair, the soft brown strands shine as the light dances between them. It seems like everything is happening in slow motion.  
Conrad clears his throat and forces himself to look away. “Neither did I. Seems like you took a bit of a tumble. This your first time on a board?” When he gets a laugh in response, he manages to look forward again and smirks.  
“Not at all, just my first time in complete darkness.”  
“You wanna take a look at your knees?” The brunette looks down to see dark spots appearing on the knees of his jeans.  
“Probably a good idea.”  
“I have some gauze, why don’t you come sit over in the light?” Con couldn’t imagine what anyone who knew him would think seeing him act like this. But this boy doesn’t know him.  
They sit on the sidewalk right under the flickering street lamp. Skater boy rolls up his pant legs one at a time, wincing softly. Conrad digs out his mini first aid kit, resolving to focus on the injuries, and not stare at the toned muscles in front of him.  
“Do you always carry a first aid kit around with you?” He pushes back his hair before opening the alcohol wipe.  
“I get in a lot of fights.” Skater boy hisses at the pain, causing Con to ease up on the pressure. “Sorry, I usually only do this for me.”  
“You don’t try to spare yourself pain?” He sounds genuinely curious, but all it does is make Conrad scoff.  
“That would kind of go against the whole point of getting into fights. I only treat them so they won’t get infected.” The Neosporin is almost empty but he manages to squeeze the last little bit onto a cotton ball that he rubs against both knees.  
“You get into fights so you can get hurt?” He can’t decipher the other boy’s tone of voice, so he just focuses on wrapping gauze around both knees.  
“You have your way of relieving tension, I have mine.” With two quick knots it’s over, and the pant legs are being rolled back down. “What’s got you skating around in the dark anyways?”  
Skater boy gets onto his feet and offers Conrad his hand. After a tense few seconds, he takes it and lets the other boy’s strength pull him up. Too soon he’s on his feet and that warm callused hand is pulling away. He adjusts his messenger bag while they walk over to the tree he’d sat under earlier.  
The boy drops himself to the ground casually, though his grimace shows that his knees didn’t appreciate the attempt at nonchalance. With a smirk Conrad lowers himself as well. They sit across from each other, knees crossed.  
“Are you gonna answer me?”  
The same hand that helped him up runs itself through long shining hair. “Not particularly fond of the idea.” Suddenly a thought strikes him, and he digs through his bag.  
“I’ve got something that can help.” Met with a curious look, he finally gets his hands on what he needs and pulls out a bottle of cough syrup still sealed with the cup included. This only garners more confusion.  
“Dude, I’m upset not sick.”  
Con lets out a small chuckle. “It does a lot more than cure your sniffles. It can help you relax.”  
“Well that’s not exactly what cough medicine does, and it sounds like you’re talking about getting drunk. Off of cough syrup.” The doubt laces every word like a deadly poison.  
“First of all I can see the outline of your pack and lighter, and smoking is a lot deadlier than a little cough syrup. Secondly it’ll be fine, no need to worry I do this all the time. Third of all we can share, you get some of mine I get some of yours, and we both get a little treat.”  
He looks unsure, but slowly takes out his beat up pack of cigarettes and a lighter shaped like a skateboard.  
“Really man? Is skating your entire life?” The boy shrugs and rubs the side of the lighter, where a sunny palm beach is printed.  
“Pretty much.” He opens the half full package of cigs at the same time Con opens the cough medicine. “So what’s the plan?”  
“We trade and try each others first, then we just keep doing both, we can pass the bottle.”  
“This sounds like a terrible idea, I’m in.”  
“Let’s go for it.” Conrad passes the bottle, and grabs the novelty lighter as well as one of the cigarettes.  
The cig is lit and a full cup of medicine is poured. They both hold their item to their lips, a quick shared glance makes them take the plunge.  
Within seconds they’re both bent over. Conrad is hacking his lungs out, and it sounds like skater boy is gagging. After what feels like an eternity, the boys look at each and break out laughing.  
“That was awful!” His voice is rough from the coughing, but this is the first time he’s laughed in years.  
“I know man!”  
They both smile and look at the objects in their hands, and then each other, then the objects again.  
“Go again?”  
“Of course.” This time Conrad’s inhale is smoother, though he still coughs on the exhale. Skater boy passes him the bottle and lights his own cig, taking a long steady drag.  
They sit like that for a while just smoking and passing the cough syrup back and forth. They’ve smoked ten cigs between them and long since abandoned the measuring cup, when Conrad broaches the subject again.  
“So what’s got you so upset anyways?”  
At some point they had both pressed their backs to the tree, and the other boy glances sideways at him from where he sits.  
“You’re not gonna let that go, are you?”  
“Nope.”  
With a resigned smirk the boy sits up slightly, takes a large swig of cough syrup, and then a long drag of his cig.  
“I've been in foster care for most of my life. Now suddenly some uncle I’ve never heard of wants to take me in. So I have to move states to live with a complete stranger.”  
Conrad grimaces. “That sucks dude.”  
Skater boy turns to him with a strange look in his eyes. “So how about you?”  
He narrows his eyes. “What do you mean?”  
“I mean, why are you here at the buttcrack of dawn? Come on man, I told you mine.”  
The sigh he releases is the stuff of legends. “It’s really nothing.”  
“Dude, it’s well below freezing. You wouldn’t be out here, especially in only a hoodie, if something wasn’t majorly wrong.”  
He’s got a point there. “It’s just my newest stepfather.” The boy raises an eyebrow.  
“Newest?”  
Con glares. “You’ve got something to say about that?” The other boy raises his hands in surrender, cigarette still held between two fingers.  
“Not at all, I was just surprised. So what about your stepdad.”  
“He’s not any kind of ‘dad’, he’s a complete tool. He treats my mom like shit, and me even worse.” Conrad can’t decipher the look on the other boy’s face.  
“Has he ever . . .?”  
“God no, he’s never touched either of us. He just yells a lot and likes locking me up in the shed.”  
“Dude that’s abuse.”  
He huffs and takes another drag of his cig. “I literally just told you he’s never hit me.”  
Skater boy turns fully to face Conrad, and stares directly into his eyes. “Physical abuse isn’t the only kind of abuse there is.”  
Con grabs the bottle and takes a swig. “He’s never done . . . that to me either. I’m fine, it’s not a big deal.”  
“Yes it is! Man that asshole is verbally abusing and neglecting you. That’s not okay!”  
“Pretty sure a little yelling and some creative punishments don’t count as abuse. Besides, mom agrees that I deserve it.”  
“Woah that is not cool. Dude you deserve to be treated with respect.” Conrad stares at him for a full minute, long enough for ash to drop from his cigarette onto his leg.  
“Fuck!” It only slightly burns and he quickly brushes it away, but it’s enough to break him from his trance. He looks back up from his pants, and does his best to try and decode this weirdo. He doesn’t understand the skater’s thoughts, or how he arrived at them. But if he wants to think Conrad is a worthwhile person, then he’ll just let him. It’s not like he’ll ever see him again.  
“Are you okay?”The other boy is looking at him with so much concern, the only other person to look at him like that was Reg no one, no one had ever looked at him like that.  
“Yeah I’m fine. So do you know any tricks?” The boy is looking completely baffled at the change of topics.  
“Um, yeah I do.”  
“Can you show me some?”  
“Sure . . .”  
The next hour is spent in the skatepark. With the skater doing tricks, and Conrad cheering as loud as he can without being caught. The little show ends with a wicked wheelie, and then suddenly he’s climbing back up to the park.  
“That was awesome! The wheelie was especially cool.”  
“That’s called a manual.”  
“Uh huh, sure it is.”  
They make their way back over to their seats and both grab new cigs. Soon enough the boys are watching the sun rise through clouds of cigarette smoke.  
The other boy has fallen asleep, and Conrad takes advantage of this to fully examine him in the early morning light. His hair looks as soft as silk, spilling over his neck and shoulders. His skin is clear and tanned, utterly perfect. And there’s soft smile lines around his mouth that perfectly match with who he seems to be. It’s a good thing this boy is leaving soon, Con always manages to ruin good things. And there’s no doubt in his mind that this boy is good. Too good to be associated with Conrad.  
So as quietly as he can, he gathers his stuff. After a moment's hesitation he grabs the novelty lighter. He’ll need proof later, proof that this night actually happened. To be fair he grabs the first aid kit out of his bag and leaves it next to the skater. He slings his bag over his shoulder, and starts the walk back to his house. That day as he listens to his stepfather call him a pathetic mistake, he thinks about the boy. The boy who believed he deserved better.

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't crucify me. To be clear, I don't ship Conrad/Willie, Conrad is just super repressed and his mind is latching onto Willie because he's safe. (And to be honest didn't we all swoon when Willie took off his helmet?) If this get enough kudos and comments I might make this a series.


End file.
